Power supplies have taken a fresh hit in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip with authorities accusing the rival Palestinian Authority of blocking fuel payments to Egypt from going through banks.

The electricity authority said on Saturday two of the three generators at Gaza's only power plant were offline because "the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah stopped all the financial transactions through Palestinian banks to Egypt to buy fuel".

"This led to the stopping of fuel (deliveries) two days ago from Egypt."

A spokesman for the Palestinian Authority government in Ramallah, Tarek Rishmawi, told AFP news agency that "the main reason for the worsening situation in Gaza is Hamas as they rejected the initiative of (Palestinian president) Mahmud Abbas to end the split" between Palestinian factions.